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LittleBadWitch t1_j1bp2fv wrote

Including room & board + ground transportation into education costs is so irrational. Those aren't educational expenses; they're living expenses.

$26k~ per semester for tuition in WV as an example is absurd to begin with, when Tuition is ~$8-10k per year there at a university and even less for community college. You can get an entire 4-yr college education for less than the price listed on this for one semester.

The cost of education isn't even 20%~ of the costs being claimed here in the most expensive public university case, let alone the cheaper ones.

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LittleBadWitch t1_j1br8rk wrote

$10k~ WVU/yr
$8.5k~ Marshall/yr
$8k~ WVSU/yr
$5k~ Community College/yr

OP's chart claims $200k~ for a 4-year degree. It's nowhere close to the actual costs associated with education, it's inflated by including normal living expenses and claiming those as education costs.

Food, travel costs (car), housing, etc. aren't educational expenses; they're living expenses that adults have to do regardless of being in school or not. Attributing them to education is absurd.

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munchi333 t1_j1btce0 wrote

It also includes private schools which are much much expensive than public. Super misleading in my opinion.

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LittleBadWitch t1_j1btyig wrote

You are correct, it does. The big WV private posh universities are 6x~ more expensive than community college, 3-5x~ more expensive than the public universities.

Can't speak for the other states, but it absolutely inflates the costs.

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Jeebus_Price t1_j1dmzly wrote

To throw another wrench into the mix, WV also has a ridiculously good scholarship for any decently smart, in state student. Any high school senior with a 3.0 GPA and a score 21 on the ACT can get the WV Promise scholarship. Those requirements really aren’t that high and it damn-near pays your entire 4-yr tuition. I went to engineering school at WVU and I think I ended up paying like 6-10k TOTAL for all 4 years (2011-2015). May have changed by now, though…

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z06attack t1_j1brr3l wrote

Amd please suggest to me how i would attend a college without those expenses if i didnt live next to that university? It's a necessary expense and therefore rightly included.

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[deleted] t1_j1bsfsd wrote

You would have to pay those expenses whether you were in school or not. They are living expenses, not education expenses.

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Ok_Ad_7939 t1_j1e1suy wrote

No! You could stay at home. No rent and the food is only a marginal difference. Costs are costs!

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vermiliondragon t1_j1eu5vk wrote

College towns are often expensive to live in. Many colleges require students to live in dorms with a food plan for one or two years. The dorm plus food plan is generally much more than a budget conscious person would otherwise spend on housing and food.

My oldest is currently living at home and attending community college with the hope of transferring to the local university after 2 years. We will pay nothing more for his housing and food than we did when he was in high school. His brother hopes to go straight to a 4 year college anywhere but near home. We will save nothing on housing with him gone, have modest food savings of roughly $2000/year and shell out probably $10k-20k per year for food and housing depending where he goes and whether he stays in dorms or rents a room off campus.

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LittleBadWitch t1_j1bsmon wrote

People who don't go to college have to pay for food, transportation, and housing too. They have nothing to do with your education expenses.

If you pay $10-20k~ for food, car, apartment as a non-college student, and you become a college student... you didn't suddenly add another $10-20k in yearly educational expenses for those living expenses.

It's not an educational expense.

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z06attack t1_j1bu76d wrote

While i hear what you are saying...It is an expense. If my daughter wanted to go to a top school, she needs to consider room and board. If she wanted to get it from a local community college, she would live at home..... you must provide this cost in calculations. Otherwise you are not being realistic to what it takes to attend that school

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vazxlegend t1_j1d2bnz wrote

Not everyone has the option to live at home. Living at home while going to school is a privilege; and yes it saves kids money, but you as the parent are still covering their living expense.

There is nothing saying your daughter can’t be a waitress at a local restaurant and live at home too.

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munchi333 t1_j1bta5s wrote

I guess if you didn’t go to college it would all be free? Lol, what a stupid question.

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Ok_Ad_7939 t1_j1e1gnv wrote

No. It’s not. As a parent or student you care about all costs the same. The dollars you pay to the school for tuition and fees are the same as the dollars you pay for the dorm, apartment, grocery store, restaurant and everything else.

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